1. WHO adopts “Human Challenge Trial” to develop new vaccine for COVID-19

• The World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced eight candidates to enter human trials. Several people step forward to participate in human challenge trial as the race to develop new vaccine for the virus is increasing.
• The trial involves infecting volunteers intentionally with COVID-19 virus. This is done to speed up the process of vaccine development.
• The main benefit of the human challenge trial is that it accelerates testing. Many efficacious vaccines shall be available more quickly. Also, the number of people required in phase 3 of these trials is less than the regular trials.

Foot Notes: About WHO
Founded: 07 Apr 1948
Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
Founder: Brock Chisholm
Director-General:Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

2. Former Supreme Court Justice A K Sikri inaugurates Indian Dispute Resolution Centre

• Former Supreme Court judge Justice A K Sikri has inaugurated the Indian Dispute Resolution Centre (IDRC), which provides a paperless dispute resolution environment. The centre offers offline as well as e-alternate dispute resolution (ADR) facility through its state-of-the-art e-arbitration, e-meditation and e-conciliation software portal.
• It provides a completely paperless dispute resolution environment. 
• The IDRCs are located at strategic commercial places in the country with its head office in Connaught Place in New Delhi.

Foot Notes: About IDRC
Chairperson: Mehar S Rathi
Secretary General: Mona Marwah
Director/Head of Operations: Riya Rathi
Head Office: New Delhi

3. PK Nair has been  Appointed as the Ambassador to Republic of Niger

• The government announced the appointment of Prem K Nair as Indian Ambassador to Niger.
• Mr Nair is currently posted as Consul General of India to Hambantota
• He is expected to take up the assignment shortly. Niger is a landlocked country in West Africa named after the Niger River. 

Foot Notes: About Niger
Capital: Niamey

President: Mahamadou Issoufou
Currency: West African CFA franc

4. Indian Army Major “Suman Gawani” to be honoured with UN Military Gender Advocate award

• Major Suman Gawani, an Indian Army officer and woman peacekeeper who has served with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), has been selected for the prestigious United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award (2019).
• She has been awarded for her outstanding contribution to peacekeeping efforts in the UNMISS.
• This is the first time that an Indian peacekeeper is being given the UN Military Gender Advocate award.
• Created in 2016, the award honours the dedication and effort of individual military peacekeepers in promoting the UN principles on Women, Peace and Security in peace operations as nominated by Heads and Force Commanders of peace operations.
• Major Gawani was scheduled to visit New York for the award ceremony but due to COVID-10 pandemic, she will receive the award during an online ceremony.

Foot Notes: About Indian Army
Chief of Army Staff: General Manoj Mukund Naravane
Commander- in-Chief: President Ram Nath Kovind
About United Nations peacekeeping:
Peacekeeping by the United Nations is a role held by the Department of Peace Operations as "a unique and dynamic instrument developed by the organization as a way to help countries torn by conflict to create the conditions for lasting peace".
Secretary-General: Jean-Pierre Lacroix
Founded: 1945

5. China successfully tests its first unmanned high-altitude helicopter drone

• China's first unmanned helicopter drone, AR500C unmanned helicopter, made its maiden flight at an AVIC base in Poyang in East China's Jiangxi Province. The drone was developed by the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).
• China's first unmanned helicopter can take off at an elevation of 5,000 metres and has a ceiling of 6,700 metres. 

Foot Notes: About China
Capital: Beijing
President: Xi Jinping
Currency: Chinese Yuan

6. India sets up military war game centre called ‘INDIA’ for Ugandan Defence forces in Jinja

• The Indian Association Uganda (IAU) and Indian Military Advisory and Training Team for Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) have jointly set up military war game centre called ‘INDIA’ at the Uganda Senior Command and Staff College in Kimaka in Jinja District of Uganda with a cost of over 1 billion Ugandan shillings or $2,65,000.
• The centre was inaugurated by the Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. The center will not only help the college but also strongly support UPDF’s transformation. In addition to Uganda, the East African region will also get benefitted in training peacekeeping troops that would cross the continent and beyond.

7. United States  tennis player Jamie Hampton announces retirement

• American tennis player and former world number 24 Jamie Hampton has announced her retirement from the game.
• She had undergone numerous surgeries in the past few years, but those operations were not successful enough for her return to professional tennis.
• Hampton clinched five International Tennis Federation (ITF) titles during her professional tennis career. 
• However, numerous injuries in the last five years as well as six surgeries over an 18-month period in 2014 and 2015 brought a sudden halt to her career.
• Hampton, who reached career-high ranking of World No.24 in July of 2013, concluded by saying that she is now looking forward to the next chapter of her life which will be attending college.

8.  Fintech startup Zaggle ties up with Visa to launch innovative payments solutions for SMEs & startups

• Fintech startup Zaggle informed that it has partnered with payments technology major Visa to launch innovative payment solutions for Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs) and startups so as to enhance productivity, efficiency, automate processes, reduce costs & focus on easy and fast credit with a unique card which will have forex, prepaid &  credit.
• The platform will add over 600 SMEs every month. Special emphasis is placed on SMEs in the country who have been severely affected by the pandemic which will  benefit with a credit line, digitized spending and ability to borrow more by being able to show more digital transactions. Zaggle will open this platform to a million SMEs.

Foot Notes: About Zaggle
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Founder & Chairman: Raj N Phani
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer(CEO): Avinash Godkhindi
About Visa:
Headquarters: Foster City, California
Chairman and CEO: Alfred F. Kelly Jr

9. Japanese pro wrestler Hana Kimura dies aged 22

• Japanese professional wrestler Hana Kimura died at the age of 22. 
• While the cause of death is yet to be ascertained, Kimura had posted a number of troubling social media posts in recent days.
• Kimura is said to have been the target of hundreds of abusive tweets on a daily basis.
• Kimura began her professional career in 2016 when she played in Wrestle-1 against classmate Reika Saiki in a losing effort.
• Kimura was featured as a cast member on the Netflix reality series “Terrace House: Tokyo,”.

10. Nitin Gadkari inaugurates breakthrough event of Chamba Tunnel under “Char dham Pariyojana”

• In a boost to the Rs 12,000 crore ''Char Dham'' project to connect Gangotri, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Badrinath, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has achieved a milestone in construction of a tunnel below the densely populated Chamba town on Rishikesh-Dharasu road (NH-94) in Uttarakhand.
• Latest Austrian technology has been used in construction of the Chamba tunnel.
• The tunnel will be through for traffic by October 2020 almost three months before its scheduled date of completion of January 2021.
• The 6 km road and 450 metre tunnel is being constructed at a cost of Rs 88 crore.